Winner and loser of the week

Winner of the week: The Capital press corps: (We interrupt this blog for some shameless self -aggrandizing.) At a time when the economy is decimating most of the Tallahassee news bureaus, the ever-shrinking press capital press corps is still showing a pulse as a watchdog. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel last week exposed Lt.. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp's expensive frequent flying on taxpayer-funded state planes, and forced him to reimburse the state for some improper expenses. Meanwhile, reporting by the Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau has led to a grand jury review of ousted Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom.

Loser of the week: Jeff Kottkamp: The lieutenant governor almost nobody has heard of managed to raise his profile big time, thanks to revelations that during his first two years in office Kottkamp billed taxpayers more than $400,000 for 365 flights on state planes, most of them (shock!) to and from his hometown of Fort Myers. Kottkamp says he's trying to drive more. Good idea.

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For Florida political news today, the Buzz is your can't-miss-it source. Tampa Bay Times writers offer the latest in Florida politics, the Florida Legislature and the Rick Scott administration. Keep in mind: This is a public forum sponsored and maintained by the Tampa Bay Times. When you post comments here, what you say becomes public and could appear in the newspaper. You are not engaging in private communication with candidates or Times staffers.